Zespri’s last charter vessel of the 2024 kiwifruit season has departed the Port of Tauranga bound for Japan.
Around 4,610 tonnes of Zespri's Green Kiwifruit were onboard the Lady Rosehip, expected to reach Tokyo at the start of November before sailing onto Kobe.
Zespri has used 62 charter vessels to ship this season’s kiwifruit from New Zealand, including three to Northern Europe, 13 to the Mediterranean, three to North America’s West Coast and 43 to Asia. That’s up from 51 charter vessels last season.
The season’s final container shipments, carrying the remaining 4,400 tonnes of the crop, are expected to conclude in the coming weeks.
Zespri's CEO Jason Te Brake said the industry has made significant efforts to deliver a record crop of more than 190 million trays (684,000 tonnes) to more than 50 markets worldwide this season.
“Fruit quality this season has been some of the best we have seen in the past five years, and we’ve been hearing great feedback from our customers in the market, which is positive when we have a lot more fruit to sell and to meet the strong demand we’re seeing across our markets,” said Te Brake.
“The New Zealand sales season is expected to wrap up for SunGold in Europe at the end of this week, while Green will run through to the end of November, and the season will finish up in late November/early December in Asia.”
The sales and marketing teams focused on maintaining solid sales rates to ensure the season closed well and delivered the best possible result to growers.
Europe has been performing strongly, with France a particular standout and solid sales in Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. Zespri has remained the number one kiwifruit brand driven by strong SunGold performance in the US.
In Asia, the season has been huge in Greater China, with volume up 40 percent on last year.
Zespri continued to buck the trend in fresh produce, with both value and volume up year-on-year. In difficult market conditions, sales have also been tracking well in Japan and Korea.
Te Brake said that as they moved towards completing the New Zealand season with the last charter on its way, planning for 2025 was ramping up with preparation again involving representatives from Zespri, post-harvest and NZKGI.
“While it’s still early at this stage, we’re planning for a more moderate increase in crop volume from New Zealand next year.”
As Zespri heads towards the final stretch of the New Zealand season, Zespri has been looking forward to finishing strongly before transitioning to its counter-seasonal Zespri Global Supply (ZGS) programme.
This has enabled Zespri to offer a 12-month supply to its key customers and consumers, holding shelf space and value until the New Zealand season starts again in 2025.
In response to increasing demand and intensifying competition, Zespri has been discussing the expansion of ZGS with New Zealand producers and will confirm shortly whether it will hold a producer vote to plant more hectares of Zespri SunGold Kiwifruit in the northern hemisphere.
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